


Locked and Unlocked Doors

by Chimney_on_the_roof



Series: His Silver Lining [3]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, First Meetings, M/M, Party, Pre-Slash, Trans Alexander Hamilton, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 09:54:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25847650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chimney_on_the_roof/pseuds/Chimney_on_the_roof
Summary: The stairs to the apartment he lived in seemed to have an infinite number of steps, but he finally made it. It was then that he discovered he had left his keys in his room in all his nervousness to go to a party with so many strangers, and he knocked on the door, hoping someone was there. He waited a few seconds and knocked again. No answer.A.k.a. Alex meets a bunch of new people and more things happen
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton & John Laurens, Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens
Series: His Silver Lining [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872574
Comments: 8
Kudos: 38





	Locked and Unlocked Doors

**Author's Note:**

> Please read the other parts of this series first to not get lost in the void of confusion

A tall girl opened the white door after Hercules rang the bell. Alex heard the car that had driven them here pull out of the driveway, and Lafayette turned around to wave his father goodbye. He would be back in about three hours to collect them again.

“Heeey!” the girl, Angelica, greeted the trio cheerfully.

“Is it them?” Alex heard a female voice call from inside the house. Angelica ignored the question, and after Lafayette and Hercules returned the greeting, she told them to come in and closed the door behind them. The hallway was big – Alex’s bedroom could easily fit inside it – and ended in a huge staircase.

“You must be Alex?” Angelica said with a friendly smile. Alex nodded and returned the smile, which wasn’t hard.

She showed them where to hang their coats and then the boys followed her to the living room, which was huge, like the rest of the house, but not at all formal. It looked like people actually lived here, which Alex didn’t doubt. And it was big enough for – Alex quickly counted – eight people to sit in, without having to sit on the floor or crammed together on a couch.

Apparently they were the last to arrive. Alex sat down on a single armchair in a corner between two long couches that were vacated by four other people he estimated to be around his age, probably a bit older. He knew Angelica was a junior in college, so he supposed the others were juniors as well.

Lafayette and Hercules were greeted excitedly by one of the girls, and the only other guy greeted Lafayette warmly and Hercules more strained. The two other unknown girls greeted the three of them politely, but not familiarly, so Alex reckoned they and his friends didn’t know each other, which calmed his racing heart slightly. He’d thought he would be an outsider in a friend group where everyone had known each other for ages – he knew that wasn’t true because even Lafayette and Hercules had only known each other for a little more than over a year – so he was glad to find out he wasn’t the only unfamiliar face.

Angelica asked them all to introduce themselves. Lafayette, who sat closest to Alex on the couch to his right, started, next was Hercules, and then the girl with long, dark brown hair who had excitedly greeted Lafayette and Hercules introduced herself as Eliza, Angelica’s sister. She was a sophomore too, and Alex thought he might’ve seen her once or twice on campus. It was her kind smile that he recognised.

Then the blonde girl on the couch sitting closest to Alex on his left said her name was May, and that she had been Angelica’s roommate for the past two years. Alex noticed she had warm, brown eyes, which was uncommon in combination with her light hair, which didn’t look like it was dyed. She had a kind face and laughed easily, with a smile that looked a bit mischievous. She was probably the only one in the room shorter than himself.

He quickly took his eyes off her when the girl next to her introduced herself as Charlie. She had long, straight black hair in a tight ponytail with a hair poof on top of her head. Her eyes were light brown, with narrow eyebrows above them. She wore tight, elegant clothes, which made her appearance contrast with that of May, who wore a denim jacket and loose clothes. Charlie was generous with her smiles as well, just like seemingly everyone present.

Except for the guy Lafayette apparently knew. He was withdrawn and spoke with a quiet voice when he said his name was Thomas. He was tall and wore clothes that seemed to fit him perfectly, as if they were designed especially for him. Maybe they were, Alex thought. He noticed that, contrary to what he had thought at first sight, he was observant and his dark eyes took in everything that happened in the room. Alex got the impression that he was smart and knew Alex’s whole life story the moment he laid eyes on him when it was his turn to introduce himself.

“I’m Alex. Uh,” his cheeks heated up and he looked at the ground, “I’m a trans guy.” He looked up and immediately made eye contact with Charlie, who looked at him like people always did when he said he was transgender. As if they were trying to find the masculine features in his face, or the feminine ones. May, next to her, smiled her contagious smile at him and he smiled back.

“What are your pronouns?” she asked him.

“He, him,” he answered with another thankful smile. He quickly continued, “I’m a friend of Laf and Hercules and I’m not entirely sure why Angelica was okay with me coming along since I don’t know her-”

“A friend of them is a friend of mine,” Angelica interrupted him. “That’s also how I met Thomas, and I have no regrets befriending him.” Alex saw Thomas try to suppress a smile.

Angelica stood and asked what they all wanted to drink and left the room. Her friends started talking to each other and Alex watched, not engaging in any conversations. He saw Eliza look at him, and when they made eye contact she beckoned him to sit in the now empty spot next to her.

“I like your red hair,” she told him when he took his seat.

“Thanks,” he said in surprise, running a hand through his hair. He looked at her, looking for something to compliment her with, but decided it would be a bit creepy if he told her he liked the way she smiled. Instead, he asked her about college and what she liked to do, and conversation flowed easily.

After a few minutes, Eliza was called away by her sister to bring snacks from the kitchen to the living room. Alex realised he had been leaning towards Eliza and he forced his body to relax in the cushions behind him. He watched the others for a moment, feeling more comfortable than before his conversation with Eliza. Lafayette had switched seats with Charlie and was now sitting between May and Thomas, talking animatedly to May. Alex saw Thomas nursing his glass of water, also watching the others with his observing eyes.

Immediately when Alex looked at him, Thomas looked back, as though he could feel his eyes on him. They exchanged an awkward smile, and Thomas got up to sit next to Alex.

“Hi,” he said.

When Alex stood in front of the entrance of the apartment complex three hours later, he was worn out. May was a ball of energy – positive energy, but still too much for Alex to handle. He had been told numerous times that he was the one with too much energy – once people got to know him better – but he was no match for May. He had been talking to her about music, because they found out they had the same taste. May knew more about the people in bands they both liked, and Alex was happy to share his knowledge of what particular lyrics were references to other things.

He didn’t find much common ground with Charlie, so they talked about college. Charlie was a dancer but her parents said she couldn’t make a career out of that, and she was determined to prove them wrong. In the meantime she studied design, while taking dance lessons as often as possible. Alex discovered she was determined and stubborn, which made her a bit formal at times, but she was also kind. He saw that when she laughed, it was genuine and her eyes smiled along.

He’d made small talk with nearly everyone, but the deeper conversations had been with Angelica, who wasn’t afraid of asking questions about his gender. He felt like the others were afraid of even mentioning it, but Angelica unashamedly asked questions out of pure curiosity and interest, which Alex appreciated.

His conversation with Thomas was what puzzled him. Thomas had asked him some strange questions. Not uncomfortably weird questions, but unusual questions like _“If you were a walking lamppost, where would you go?”_ and _“What would a giraffe’s first word be if it could suddenly talk?”_

Alex had had fun answering his questions, occasionally coming up with a question like that himself, but was also weary of his intentions behind it. Eventually, Thomas had shaken his head, smiled, and said, “Man, I’m just messing with you.”

He had internally thanked Thomas for calling him ‘man’, but his confusion overshadowed his joy. What was his deal, he wondered.

The stairs to the apartment he lived in seemed to have an infinite number of steps, but he finally made it. It was then that he discovered he had left his keys in his room in all his nervousness to go to a party with so many strangers, and he knocked on the door, hoping someone was there. He waited a few seconds and knocked again. No answer. He knocked louder.

He checked his phone. It was only five minutes since Lafayette’s father had driven away. He hesitated and made a decision.

“Hey, Lafayette?” Alex asked when Lafayette answered his phone, while walking down the stairs again.

“Is something wrong?” he heard his friend’s worried voice. By the sound of it, he was still in the car. “Who is it?” he heard Hercules ask.

“Uh, it’s nothing big. It’s just, I forgot my key and now I can’t get into the apartment.” His voice echoed in the stairwell.

Lafayette was silent for a moment. “Hang on, I’m going to put you on speaker,” he told Alex. To the others in the car he said, “Alex is locked out of his apartment.”

“Oh, shit,” Hercules said. Alex grimaced. He heard the car come to a halt.

“We could go back and pick him up,” the deep voice of Lafayette’s father said.

“Yeah,” Hercules said, “But, uh, he can’t stay in our apartment. We have no room.” Alex bit his bottom lip.

“Hm,” Lafayette’s father said. For a moment it was silent, until he said, “I suppose he can stay with us.”

“Ah! Yes!” Lafayette exclaimed. “Alex? Is that okay?” Alex’s heart began beating faster. Staying with his friend’s parents? He was shy around Lafayette’s father, but he still needed a place to stay for at least the night.

“Yeah,” he said, trying to console his nerves, “Thanks!”

“No problem, son. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Okay.” He ended the call and sat down on the bottom steps of the stairs, knowing it was too cold to wait outside.

There was a knock on the door and Lafayette’s father, he insisted Alex call him George, opened the door of the guest room a crack. Alex looked up from his phone he’d been reading a book on before he would go to sleep.

“Can I come in?” George asked. Alex nodded and George sat on the foot of the large bed. Alex felt very out of place in this huge house, not used to a house bigger than half of this one. The bed was also probably the most comfortable bed he would ever sleep in, and the only reason he hadn’t immediately resigned himself to sleep upon crawling under the covers, was that he couldn’t get over his guilt for not being able to do any homework, so he read a book one of his friends had recommended to him once.

“How long do you think you’ll need to stay here?”

Alex supposed John would be back by Sunday night. He knew he went home to his family on weekends, because Friday night was the only time – before they had gotten to know each other slightly better – he would see John leave his room, with a duffel bag. Sunday night he would hear John return and drop his bag on the floor, one of the only sounds he ever heard coming from his room.

“I suppose I can enter the apartment again tomorrow night,” Alex answered, “because then my housemate returns. But maybe the house owner comes home tonight or tomorrow morning, I don’t know. He hasn’t been home in a few weeks.”

George gave him a sad smile. “Well, son, you can stay here for as long as you need.”

Alex wondered why the man gave him that pitiful look, but ignored it. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “I’ll leave tomorrow morning, see if I can get in. There’s stuff I have to do that I need my books for.”

Lafayette’s father stood and smoothed out his clothes. “Alright. Good night, son.”

“Good night, sir.”

“George.”

“George.”

Alex knocked on the apartment’s front door and held his breath. To his relief, he heard shuffling inside and a moment later the door opened. It was the house owner in his worn clothes. “What?” he asked. Alex wondered if the man even recognised him.

“Uh, I forgot my keys,” he stammered. Realisation dawned on the man and he opened the door further. He said a string of apologies and asked him questions about where he had stayed that night and if he was okay. Alex remembered that he was actually a kind person, but they never talked or even saw each other, so his brain had remembered this man as an impartial and absent person. He reassured him he was okay, and shot George, who was waiting outside in case no one was there, a text saying he got in.

George sent him a thumbs up and the message ‘Don’t be afraid to call me if you ever need help again!’ Alex thanked him and retreated to his room, where he got ready to take a shower. He was relieved to find his keys on his desk.

When John entered the apartment that evening, Alex came out of his room to catch a glimpse of him. He felt empowered by the fact that he had survived a night of meeting new people, and thought that maybe he could start a conversation with his housemate. John spotted him and gave him a small wave before entering his room. Alex retreated to his own room and closed the door. Another time, perhaps, he thought. He heard the familiar sound of John dumping his bag on the floor, maybe louder than usual.

Alex had been reading the book he had started the night before – which he found very interesting, he had to thank Lafayette for the recommendation someday – for about an hour, when a knock sounded on his door. He got up from his bed to open the door and found John behind it.

“Hi,” Alex said.

“Hey. Do you mind if I play the guitar? My father…” John trailed off, and started over, “I’m taking lessons again and need to practise. I can do it when you’re not home, but just in case I can’t, I wanted to ask you if you mind?”

Alex smiled. “No, of course I don’t mind! I’d love to hear you play the guitar.”

John blushed and mumbled, “I’m not very good, but alright, thanks.”

He left and Alex left the door open. Not long after, he heard careful strumming and, not very sure why, he smiled. He was proud he hadn’t made a complete fool of himself these past two days.

**Author's Note:**

> Can you guess who May and Charlie are based on? Hint: they're *based on* members of the ensemble ;)  
> Also, it was only when I was posting this and looked for a part of the fic to put in the summary and after I had come up with the title, that I discovered every paragraph after a blank line starts with something to do with doors and it's entirely unintentional but still, thanks subconscious part of my brain
> 
> Please let me know what you think <3  
> Stay tuned for a fourth part!


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